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Topic: R.I.P. Malcolm Young (Read 233 times)

Though he might not rank too high on every "best guitarists" list, there is no doubt he is #1 on mine. His style was more bare bones then bare bones, while Angus was the show and spark of Ac/Dc, Malcolm was the very foundation. His heavy handed and simple approach defines the very genre of "hard" rock. There was no nonsense to his playing in any regard, just a loud amp and a wrecking ball wrist. Everything about Ac/Dc, the entire vision and mission statement of the band was Malcolm's.

Malcolm is the guitarist that I learnt to play from, and the reason I have broken so many strings from just playing open chords. It was playing along to Ac/Dc songs like Shoot To Thrill, Walk All Over You, If You Want Blood, Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be, Shot Down In Flames, Gone Shootin' etc. that I learnt to play. I never touched Angus' parts, opting to miss the fills in Back In Black and enter half way into verse 1 of You Shook Me All Night Long because I simply wanted to be a powerful rhythm guitarist like Malcolm.

While I like to think I'm a little more then that now (gotta step up if yer a one man band) Malcolm was a vital influence for me, and his rhythm playing was never underrated. The answer of my favorite guitarist is a simple one. Below is a video of my favorite Malcolm moment, after Angus' noodling the bastard slams in at 0:46, mighty as ever. Chester's was the first celebrity death that effected me, and Malcolm's was the first of my rock n' roll heroes to fade. Rock on brilliant bastard.